Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris (born Detroit, Michigan, December 15, 1929) is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator. video:Barry Harris Workshop Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960. Influenced also by Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk, Harris's playing is noted for its similarity to Bud Powell. Harris has played with Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt, Illinois Jacquet, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Charles McPherson and Max Roach. He has recorded 19 albums as a lead artist, and is a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. During the 1970s, Harris lived with Monk at the Weehawken, New Jersey home of the jazz patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, and so was in an excellent position to comment on the last years of his fellow pianist.Watrous, Peter. "Be-Bop's Generous Romantic", The New York Times, May 28, 1994. Accessed June 2, 2008. "Mr. Harris moved to New York in the early 1960s and became friends with Thelonious Monk and Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, Mr. Monk's patron. Eventually, Mr. Harris moved to her estate in Weehawken, N.J., where he still lives." Harris appears in the 1989 documentary film Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (produced by Clint Eastwood), performing duets with Tommy Flanagan. Since 1991, Barry Harris has collaborated with Toronto-based pianist and teacher Howard Rees in creating a series of videos and workbooks documenting his unique harmonic and improvisational systems and teaching process. In 2000, he was profiled in the film Barry Harris - Spirit of Bebop. Barry Harris continues to perform and teach worldwide. When he is not traveling, he holds weekly music workshop sessions in New York City for vocalists, students of piano and other instruments. Jazz Cultural Theater For five years, August 14, 1982, to August 14, 1987, Harris maintained a unique institution, the Jazz Cultural Theater (JCT), at 368 Eighth Avenue, a storefront between 28th and 29th streets in Manhattan. Primarily a performance venue, featuring "name" jazz artists on weekends, and a weekly jam session, it was known for Barry's music classes on other nights: vocalists and instrumentalists each taught in separate sessions. Several artists recorded at the club, including Barry's own album For the Moment. Some of the many musicians and notable jazz figures that appeared at the JCT were Jack Wilson (piano); Bill Hardman (trumpet); Junior Cook (tenor sax); Tommy Turrentine (trumpet); Charles McPherson (alto sax); Mickey Tucker (piano); Peter Leitch (guitar); Clifford Jordan (tenor sax); Mark Elf (guitar); Lou Donaldson (alto sax); Leroy Williams (drums); Vernel Fournier (drums); Hal Dotson (bass); Jamil Nassar (bass); Chris Anderson (piano); Lon Chaney (tap-dancer); Jimmy Slyde (tap-dancer); Francis Paudras (biographer of pianist Bud Powell); and jazz patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter who would park her silver Bentley convertible sports car in front of the club. Barry's approach to the teaching of jazz uses methods and techniques that pre-date the Berklee school and the Lydian Chromatic approach of George Russell. He relies upon the 6th chord and the 8-note, rather than the 7-note jazz scale, as a basis for melody and harmony. This is the material used by Bud Powell, Joseph Schillinger, George Gershwin, Glenn Miller, and even Frédéric Chopin. He emphasizes the concept of building a repertoire of one's own musical movements over common harmonic formulae. The Jazz Cultural Theater (JCT) enjoyed a vibrant five-year run, and while its storefront existence ended in 1987 when its lease ran out and rent increased, Barry simply moved his jazz instrumental and vocal classes to other venues in New York City, and in Europe, supported by a devoted and ever growing international base of students, many of whom are now professionals, among them Israeli-born, now New York City-based jazz guitarist, Roni Ben Hur, and Italian-born brothers Luigi Grasso (alto sax) and Pasquale Grasso (guitar). An advertisement appearing in the local Village Voice newspaper announced the last week of JCT performances: :Thursday, August 6, 1987: Haze Laser & Sextet featuring C-Sharpe :Friday-Saturday August 7 & 8, 1987: Charles McPherson with the Barry Harris Trio :Sunday, August 9, 1987: a vocal concert for Victor Lane :Wednesday, August 12, 1987: The Last Big Bash at the Jazz Cultural Theater Theoretical Concepts Barry Harris’ approach to jazz harmony relies heavily on the diminished chord and its relationship to the twelve keys. Utilizing the diminished chord, he has formulated scales which allow pianists and guitar players greater freedom in accompaniment, to play, in his own words “movement, not chords.” His fundamental scale is the major “sixth-diminished” scale, but equally important are the minor sixth to diminished, the dominant seventh to diminished, and the dominant seven flat five to diminished scale. The major sixth-diminished scale is a major scale with an extra note between the 5th and 6th scale degrees. A typical exercise using this scale involves playing a C Major 6th chord, up the scale to a D diminished 7th chord, back to C Major 6th in first inversion, to F diminished 7th ( i.e. D diminished 7th first inversion ), to C Major 6th in second inversion, and so on, up the scale until it reaches the octave. Moving chords up and down the scale in this way gives more possibilities for “movement”, as opposed to playing a static chord when playing jazz standard songs. Extending this concept, Barry relates all chord alterations (flat and sharp 9’s, sharp 11’s, flat 13’s, etc.) to the tritones minor sixth-diminished scale (A Flat Minor Sixth-Diminished for G7), which provides options for “moving” the alterations through the scales. Discography As leader *''Breakin' It Up'' (Argo 1958) *''Barry Harris at the Jazz Workshop'' (Riverside 1960) *''Preminado'' (Riverside 1961) *''Listen to Barry Harris'' (Riverside 1961) *''Newer Than New'' (Riverside 1961) *''Chasin' the Bird'' (Riverside 1962) *''Luminescence!'' (Prestige, 1967) *''Bull's Eye!'' (Prestige, 1968) *''Magnificent!'' (Prestige, 1969) *''Vicissitudes'' (MPS, 1972) *''Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron'' (Xanadu 1975) *''Tokyo'' (1976) *''Barry Harris Plays Barry Harris'' (Xanadu 1978) *''Stay Right with It'' (Xanadu 1978) *''For the Moment'' (Uptown 1984) *''The Bird of Red and Gold'' (Xanadu 1989) *''Live at Maybeck Recital Hall - Volume Twelve'' (Concord 1991) *''First Time Ever'' (Ecidence 1997) *''Live in New York'' (Reservoir 2002) *''Live in Rennes'' (Plus Loin Music 2009) As sideman With Cannonball Adderley * Them Dirty Blues (Capitol, 1960) With Charlie Byrd *''Blues Sonata'' (Riverside, 1961) With Donald Byrd *''Byrd Jazz'' (Transition, 1955) - also released as First Flight (Delmark) With Al Cohn * Al Cohn's America (Xanadu, 1976) With Sonny Criss * Saturday Morning (Xanadu, 1975) With Art Farmer and Donald Byrd *''2 Trumpets'' (Prestige, 1956) With Terry Gibbs * Bopstacle Course (Xanadu, 1974) With Benny Golson *''The Other Side of Benny Golson'' (Riverside, 1958) With Dexter Gordon * Clubhouse (Blue Note, 1965 - released 1979) * Gettin' Around (Blue Note, 1965) *''The Tower of Power!'' (Prestige, 1969) *''More Power!'' (Prestige, 1969) * Biting the Apple (SteepleChase, 1976) * True Blue - with Al Cohn (Xanadu, 1976) * Silver Blue with Al Cohn (Xanadu, 1976) With Johnny Griffin *''White Gardenia'' (Riverside, 1961) *''The Kerry Dancers'' (Riverside, 1961-62) With Coleman Hawkins * Wrapped Tight (Impulse!, 1965) With Illinois Jacquet *''Bottoms Up'' (Prestige, 1968) With Carmell Jones *''Jay Hawk Talk'' (Prestige, 1965) With Thad Jones * The Magnificent Thad Jones (Blue Note, 1956) With Harold Land *''West Coast Blues!'' (Jazzland, 1960) With Yusef Lateef * Eastern Sounds (Moodsville, 1960) *''Into Something'' (New Jazz, 1961) *''Suite 16'' (Atlantic, 1970) With Earl May * Swinging The Blues (Arbors, 2005) With Charles McPherson *''Bebop Revisited!'' (Prestige, 1964) *''Con Alma!'' (Prestige, 1965) *''The Quintet/Live!'' (Prestige, 1966) *''McPherson's Mood'' (Prestige, 1969) With Billy Mitchell * The Colossus of Detroit (Xanadu, 1978) With Hank Mobley * The Turnaround (Blue Note, 1965) With James Moody *''Don't Look Away Now!'' (Prestige, 1969) With Lee Morgan * The Sidewinder (Blue Note, 1963) With Dave Pike *''It's Time for Dave Pike'' (Riverside, 1961) With Sonny Red *''Breezing'' (Jazzland, 1960) *''The Mode'' (Jazzland (1961) *''Images'' (Jazzland, 1961) With Sonny Stitt *''Sonny Stitt'' (Argo, 1958) *''Burnin''' (Argo, 1958) *''Tune-Up!'' (Cobblestone, 1972) *''Constellation'' (Cobblestone, 1972) *''12!'' (Muse, 1972) With Don Wilkerson * The Texas Twister (Riverside, 1960) References External links *Barry Harris Official Website *Jazzworkshops Website -- publisher of Barry Harris workbooks and instructional videos *WBGO Artist Profile: Barry Harris *Transcription of Barry Harris Music Category:Pianists